Scientists discover a growing fault line in the "neck" region of the duck-shaped comet.

Comet 67P taken with a wide-angle lens from an altitude of about 15.5km above the surface during the spacecraft’s final descent on September 30.
ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDASeptember 30, 2016

It has been an epic journey, much more than 12 years in the making, but Rosetta is just about to go out in a blaze of glory. The final commands were uploaded to the spacecraft mid-morning on September…

The red box clearly shows where the lander is hiding.
ESA.September 6, 2016

As far as underwhelming headlines go: “No Alien Life Found on Comet” must rank very close to the top. An article with this title appeared in the Guardian on July 6 in response to a story claiming that…

Sinkholes on comet 67P could be a great thing for science – but not if they they bury Philae.
Vincent et al., Nature Publishing GroupVincent et al., Nature Publishing GroupJuly 1, 2015

The European Space Agency‘s Rosetta mission to land on comet 67P was one of the most audacious in space history. The idea of landing on a small chunk of icy rock 300m kilometres away from Earth and hurtling…

The landing of Rosetta’s Philae on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko was a triumph of engineering. Many spectacular scientific firsts will follow now, but small glitches during the landing make it more difficult…

“Are we there yet?” is a plaintive query that most parents learn to dread, especially if uttered while halted in a traffic jam in the baking hot sun. At least the Rosetta spacecraft has not had to deal…

There is much excitement about Rosetta at the moment. The European Space Agency’s spacecraft has already made a successful rendezvous with a comet and the images that are being transmitted back are simply…

On August 6, millions of miles away from Earth, the firing of a rocket thruster signalled the end of a decade-long journey by a European spacecraft to reach its ultimate target – a comet. The spacecraft…